By Steve Nielsen and Matt Huck
PBR Wisconsin Scouting Staff

This year’s early signing period has wrapped up with 33 early Division I signees and 16 Division II signees. Not quite the number totaled last year by the 2016 class but still an impressive number none the less.

This year’s most intriguing number comes from the amount of home state commits. In previous years the number of in state commits is few and far between when breaking down the states players have committed to. No fault to the schools in the Badger State but there are only two NCAA scholarship programs in the state that participate in the early signing period.

This year 11 prospects stayed home in the Badger State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee nabbing seven of them.

Where are they headed state by state breakdown:

Wisconsin – 7
Illinois – 5
Michigan – 3
Nebraska – 2
Ohio – 2
Oklahoma – 2
Oregon – 2
Texas – 2
Alabama – 1
Colorado – 1
Indiana - 1
Kansas – 1
Kentucky – 1
North Dakota – 1
North Carolina – 1
South Carolina – 1

West Bend West and Indian Trail lead the way for most commits from a WIAA school with three each.

West Bend West’s Nathan Burns (Oregon State), Anthony Schlass (Oklahoma) and Jack Thelen (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) all inked their letters of intent this week. While Ryan Hoerter (Auburn), Nick Elsen (Kent State) and Kyle Antos (Bradley) all did the same for Indian Trail.

Two players have committed to top 25 programs in the country (according to D1Baseball.com’s 2016 final rankings).

No. 3 TCU – Augie Mihlbauer (Mukwonago)
No. 5 Oklahoma State – Troy Hickey (Wilmot)

Division I Early Commits

Name	School	Pos.	Commitment	Conference
Ben Hauser	Sun Prairie	OF	Air Force	Mountain West
Ryan Hoerter	Indian Trail	RHP	Auburn	SEC*
Kyle Antos	Indian Trail	C	Bradley	Missouri Valley
Isaiah Glidden	Nicolet	RHP	Bradley	Missouri Valley
Garrett Gilbert	Westosha Central	C	Creighton	Big East
Evan Spry	Janesville Craig	RHP	Creighton	Big East
Patrick Sisk	Marquette University	SS	Furman	Southern
Jack Anderson	Pulaski	RHP	Illinois State	Missouri Valley
Chase Davis	Milton	OF	IPFW	Summit
Nicholas Elsen	Indian Trail	OF	Kent State	MAC
Jack Blomgren	Janesville Craig	SS	Michigan	Big Ten*
Ben Dragani	Catholic Memorial	LHP	Michigan	Big Ten*
Peter Ahn	Marquette University	SS	Michigan State	Big Ten*
Jake Eigner	Germantown	RHP	North Carolina Central	Mid-Eastern
Thomas Ginther	Baraboo	RHP	North Dakota State	Summit
Alex Rodriguez	Cudahy	SS	Northern Illinois	MAC
Griffin Doersching	Greendale	1B	Northern Kentucky	Horizon
Ryan Bader	Mukwonago	LHP	Northwestern	Big Ten
Anthony Schlass	West Bend West	2B	Oklahoma	Big 12*
Troy Hickey	Wilmot Union	LHP	Oklahoma State	Big 12*
Nathan Burns	West Bend West	RHP	Oregon State	Pac 12*
Zach Clayton	Oconomowoc	3B	Oregon State	Pac 12*
Nicholas Urban-Michalak	Park	SS	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Southland
Augie Mihlbauer	Mukwonago	LHP	Texas Christian	Big 12*
Jacob Lindemann	Burlington	RHP	Wichita State	Missouri Valley
Zachary Nogalski	Marquette University	OF	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Joey Scaffidi	New Berlin Eisenhower	OF	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Mitchell Buban	Tremper	SS	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Bryce Cross	Hortonville	SS	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Jack Thelen	West Bend West	C	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Jack Kraus	Neenah	SS	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Jack Mahoney	Appleton West	LHP	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Trevor Olson	Chippewa Falls	LHP	Xavier	Big East

*Denotes NCAA power conference.

Four of the five NCAA power conferences nabbed Wisconsin high school prospects this year. Leaving the ACC as the only power conference not to sign a Wisconsin prospect.

Division II Early Commits

Name	School	Pos.	Commitment	Conference
Will Conard	Green Bay Preble	RHP	Minnesota State	Northern Sun
Paul Petit	Eau Claire Regis	RHP	Minnesota-Duluth	Northern Sun
Harley Deeth	La Crosse Central	3B	Quincy University	Great Lakes Valley
Matthew Osterberg	Coleman	LHP	St. Cloud State	Northern Sun
Hunter DeSmet	Holmen	RHP	Upper Iowa	Northern Sun
Cody Ryan	Markesan	3B	Upper Iowa	Northern Sun
Joshua Schattner	Wilmot Union	RHP	Winona State University	Northern Sun
Tanner Williams	Arrowhead	SS	Winona State University	Northern Sun
Zac Stange	Eau Claire North	2B	Winona State University	Northern Sun
Max Van Boxel	Green Bay East	LHP	Winona State University	Northern Sun
Logan Grunenwald	Wausau West	SS	Winona State University	Northern Sun
Kyle Kosobucki	West De Pere	C	Winona State University	Northern Sun
Cole Vento	Brookfield East	C	Wisconsin-Parkside	Great Lakes Valley
Michael Pillizzi	Kenosha Bradford	2B	Wisconsin-Parkside	Great Lakes Valley
Isaac Lawler	Kenosha Bradford	RHP	Wisconsin-Parkside	Great Lakes Valley
Hunter Weddel	Kenosha Tremper	2B	Wisconsin-Parkside	Great Lakes Valley
Paul Weise	Wausau West	C	Wisconsin-Parkside	Great Lakes Valley

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